Detroit-based saxophonist Kaleigh Wilder and drummer Ben Hall play a duo centered on material expressivity in the ESS garden.
Walk-ins welcome; reservations recommended
Experimental Sound Studio presents Kaleigh Wilder and Ben Hall in a duo performance on the OPTION stage.
This performance and interview are presented in the ESS garden, and will be premiered online on ESS's YouTube.
The OPTION series is curated by Ken Vandermark, Lily Finnegan, and Andrew Clinkman.
Event Details
Sunday, July 9
3:00-5:00pm
Experimental Sound Studio Garden
5925 N. Ravenswood Ave., Chicago
About the Performance
Kaleigh Wilder and Ben Hall are engaged in a process of diasporic excavation. The central preoccupations of this process is understanding what languages have been lost/erased and how reconstituting pieces of these languages, collapsing them, in the present tense re-places ancestral understanding. For their performance as part of Option at Experimental Sound Studio wilder/hall will be using Arthur Jafa's concept of material expressivity and how there was an inability to bring over sculpture and painting and icons, "but we could carry songs. That's our nervous system."
About Kaleigh Wilder
Kaleigh Wilder is an improviser and sound sculptor. She’s studied classical saxophone, jazz, free improvisation, and even went to West Africa to study Ghanaian music and dance, all of which find their way into Kaleigh’s sound. Speaking through the baritone saxophone, her music is born of her embodied experiences—what her hands, ears, and inner child remember. Using timbral extremes that shift between raw and polished, abrasive and sensitive, discomfort and catharsis, Kaleigh channels her lived experiences into sound to communicate viscerally. She hopes to amplify in the listener their own understanding of music and Self.
About Ben Hall
Ben Hall is a composer, writer, and organizer. He was profiled by Fred Moten in the book Black and Blur and has written extensively about the visionary percussionist Milford Graves. He has participated in multiple museum exhibitions including Slow An Alarm Until It's A Tone, a solo exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit. He is currently working on a feature length documentary on the drummer Roy Brooks.
About OPTION
OPTION is an ongoing music salon curated by Chicago musicians Andrew Clinkman, Lily Finnegan, and Ken Vandermark and presented by Experimental Sound Studio. Its programming explores contemporary perspectives on improvisation and composition in a 'salon' format, enabling local, national, and international artists to publicly discuss their practice and ideas as well as perform.
Parking
Street parking can be found easily around ESS on streets such as W. Thorndale. There are three parking spots directly in front of ESS on Ravenswood. On weekends, parking is also available along the front of Weber Furniture; please do not block the garage doors. Behind ESS through the alley, there are also two parking spots which we are happy to reserve for anyone with accessibility needs. Please get in touch with info@ess.org to reserve a spot.
During the OPTION series this summer, diagonal parking is available in the alley directly south of ESS and Weber Furniture Service.
Accessibility
ESS has wheelchair seating and accessible bathrooms on both floors.
Please note that once on one floor, there is no ADA-accessible path inside the building to switch between floors; you will have to exit the building and reenter from the respective floor entrance. Our front entrance on Ravenswood leads you to our 1st floor (Audible Gallery, Studio A, Live Room), while our alley entrance leads you to the basement/garden (garden shows, Creative Audio Archive, Studio B).
To reserve accessible seating or parking, request other accommodations, or ask us any accessibility-related questions, please email info@ess.org.
The 2023 OPTION season is sponsored in part by 90.9FM WDCB, Half Acre Brewing, and Diana's Bananas.
